The former Minnesota governor said that he was especially fond of Gaga’s “Born this Way.”

“In terms of the beat, I like ‘Bad Romance,'” Pawlenty opined. “I got to say even though she is a little unusual, ‘Born this Way’ has got some appeal.”

“She’s actually very talented. If you go to the end of the HBO special — the Lady Gaga HBO special — and you watch her sing a cappella ‘Born this Way,’ she can sing. She can definitely sing. She’s talented.”

“If you had to limit your artistic choices to just conservatives, we wouldn’t have a lot of choices,” he added.

It wasn’t clear if the anti-gay rights Republican was aware that many consider “Born this Way” to be a gay anthem.

“No matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life / I’m on the right track baby, I was born to survive,” Gaga sings.

About the Author

David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. His work can also be found at Crooks & Liars, and he's also been published at The BRAD BLOG. He came to Raw Story after working as a network manager for the state of North Carolina and as as engineer developing enterprise resource planning software. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidEdwards.